National groups object to closed energy meeting

Updated: Fifteen national environmental organizations are complaining about a closed-door meeting in Raleigh on Nov. 6 where state and federal officials talked with groups funded by the oil and gas industry about offshore energy development.

The environmentalists on Monday released a letter they wrote to President Barack Obama’s administration expressing their objection. They criticize the lack of transparency, since neither the public nor environmental advocates were allowed to attend.

N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary John Skvarla said the meeting was private at the request of the agencies that participated. DENR had said the meeting would only include regulators and elected officials.

Gov. Pat McCrory is chairman of the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition, which is pushing for offshore energy exploration and potential revenue sharing for coastal states.

The letter came the same day that a story by the Center for Public Integrity, published simultaneously in Time Magazine, said the governors’ coalition draws on the research and resources of an energy lobbying company acting on behalf of an oil industry-funded advocacy group. A representative from the advocacy group, the Consumer Energy Alliance, was among those set to speak at the meeting in Raleigh.

McCrory spokesman Ryan Tronovitch said the governor doesn’t rely on energy groups for his information. He said staff in the governor’s office and at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources provide that.

The article noted a lack of transparency on the part of North Carolina compared to the other states, writing: “The Center requested documents related to the governors coalition from the three states that have chaired the coalition. Louisiana and Alaska provided thousands of pages, though Alaska’s response was heavily redacted. North Carolina has yet to respond to the request, which was submitted in April.”

Tronovitch dismissed the report saying the Center for Public Integrity was a left-wing organization and that the article was a “hatchet job.”

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative journalism organization supported by foundation and individual financial contributions. It won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting this year, in addition to other major journalism awards.

This story was originally published November 25, 2014 at 7:16 PM with the headline "National groups object to closed energy meeting."